View from the Bike Path

Staten Island gets the Hartman & Lewis walk around treatment, Dec. 3 on Thirteen.

Is the closest you've been to Staten Island a ride on the ferry? Well, here's your chance to learn more about our greenest borough. A WALK AROUND STATEN ISLAND WITH DAVID HARTMAN AND BARRY LEWIS, premieres Monday, December 3 at 9:30 p.m. on Thirteen/WNET.

In A WALK AROUND STATEN ISLAND, Hartman and Lewis explore 300 years of history, Asian arts, mansions, beaches, personalities, hidden gems, and the best local pizza. Find out who's tilling the land at the old Decker Farm, discover one of America's oldest free black communities, learn who really invented the telephone, and find out what the future holds for that former landfill. Viewers will discover a borough that won't soon be forgotten.

Thirteen/WNET photo: S. Isbell

Tags: barry lewis, david hartman, harbor, history, parks, richmondtown, snug harbor, staten island, staten island ferry, tibetan, walking tour

Garbage truck uses Chelsea bike lane as personal speedway

37697. Remember that number.

OK, I was just walking down 9^th Avenue in Chelsea, admiring the work they’re doing on the new separated bike lane. (They’re currently putting in traffic islands at the start of each block to help keep cars and bikes apart – what a great idea.) Just then, a garbage truck comes barreling down the bike lane (12:30 p.m. around 19^thor 20^th streets, just before turning right onto a westbound street). OK, I’ll give our hard-working civil servants the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was going to pick up trash on that block and was saving his herniated disc from having to drag a garbage pail an extra four feet or so before hoisting its contents into his refuse recovery vehicle. Well, no one really had their trash out, so it wasn’t garbage day and he didn’t even slow down to pick up the overflowing municipal garbage pail at the corner.

Which is why I’ve been reciting the number 37697 on my way back to the office. That is the identification number on the upper left of his truck. Wish I had a nice digital camera to capture the moment. The whole incident reminds me of the death of Eric Ng, an NYU student run down by a car that careened down the Hudson River Park bike path last December.

Tags: bike lane, chelsea, eric ng, garbage truck

Beale Blow Out -open studio w/ punk, cider & sharp objects

Tonite! - 6pm-9pm - 11th Ave btw 21st & 22nd Wood sculptor Thomas Beale hosts another kick asp open-studio/exhibit in his Chelsea workshop (likley the last). Expect lifelike sculptures in huge wood blocks, organic shapes, things to climb on, hot cider and Vermont punk/blues styllings of "Cccome???" All this surrounded by sharp workshop instruments of mass destruction.
It's a Toxic Pop pick and guaranteed blow out!
Exhibit runs through Nov. 17, and is open Wed-Fri 11-6.
Check 'em out at http://www.tbeale.com.

Tags: chelsea, opening, sculpture, thomas beale, vermont punk blues

Buying Eyeballs at Party City

So my daughter and I are in Party City buying party supplies, filling our basket with plates, cups and tablecloths decorated with big bloodshot eyeballs. We get on line at the cashier and the lady behind me very nicely asks me if we're having a Halloween party. I answer truthfully, "no, acutally it's for my daughter's sweet 16 party."
Well, the lady's jaw dropped and just about hit the floor and she was left totally speechless. It was almost worth the price.

Tags: eye balls, halloween, party city

The Best Thing About the San Gennaro Festival.

The best thing about the San Gennaro Festival is biking up a deserted Mullberry Street at 8 a.m. this morning. No cars, just a few pedestrians and a delivery truck or two. From there, the bike lane up Lafayette took me up to 14th Street, where the bike lane ends and you're thrown onto Union Sqare East with no room between you and the cabbies. OK, they may look prettier with their floral hoods, but they're still just as wreckless.
Also, I read today that the NY Post is planning a Page 6 magazine. OK, so does it just have page 6? Then isn't that really page 1? Will all the pages be page 6? And if so, what good will the table of contents be? I'm so confused.

[image: badpopcorn.com]

Tags: bike lane, page 6, san gennaro, union square

Hilly Krystal dead. As dead as a doornail.

CBGB's famed owner, Hilly Krystal, is dead. As dead as a doornail at 75 -- from lung cancer His beer-scented cocoon on the Bowery launched the careers of many of punk/new wave's founding persons: Ramones, Talking Heads, Tele... you know -- and if not visit the obit.
His legacy lives on in the retail shop (NYC.com listing), a proposed Vegas nightclub, and possibly in the name of an overpriced burger joint at a neighboring storefront. Sadly, the actual CBGB remains closed with no high end retailers beating down the gates to pay enormous rent for a storefront under a homeless shelter on the Bowery.
Photo: MediaBistro.

Tags: bowery, cbgb, hilly krystal, vegas

Get yer tail over to the Meow Mix Acatemy

Cat lovers will want to poke into Union Square's Daryl Roth Theatre to check out the Meow Mix Acatemy. through Saturday, August 25. Feline fanciers can learn to play like kitty on oversized toys or enjoy "arts & cats." Bring you cat (or a photo of your favorite cat -- past or present) for portraits, psychic readings or therapy (for the cat, sorry). The Mix will donate a bag of cat food to Soho's Animal Haven for every visitor.
Afterward, grab a bite at Chat n' Chew across the park to digest the experience.

Tags: acatemy, cat, chat n chew, daryl roth, meow mix, union square

Vampire Peacock Gains Immortalilty

Some stories just down die! Just a few weeks ago we reported on the crazed vampire peacock of Staten Island. Stomped -- or so we thought -- into oblivion by a quick-thinking Burger King employee. Well, word from Roadside America is that the dastardly fowl has gained a second life in a hand-made memorial to the feathered undead --a Vampire Peacock memorial -- which will likely be displayed at it's own case in the said Burger King come September. Roadside quotes the former Staten Islander, Charles Johnson, as explaining "I've taken so much flack down here from people who don't like New Yorkers, and then this happened and I said, 'I have to correct the image of Staten Island'."

Tags: burger king, staten island, vampire peacocks

Pick a Winner: Garbage Tour of Chinatown!!

Even I am amazed by what is without a doubt the strangest tour of New York I have ever seen listed. Take an evening tour of Chinatown with Nate Hill (pictured) to pick through garbage and find random animal parts. Why? Well, if you need a reason, it's because Nate is a "rouge taxidermist". He gathers up the wasted parts of your favorite Chinatown restaurants and puts them back together -- creating fantastic beasts that you couldn't even imagine. Wear clothes that cover you really well (I recommend a Tyvek suit like the ones worn by Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs) and shoes that you're not very fond of. Afterwards, head with Nate to a local watering hole to talk about your wonderful finds (hopefully after washing up and dropping off the evening's take).

Tags: chinatown, dirty jobs, garbage, mike rowe, mythical, nate hill, taxidermy, tyvek

Wolfman Returns from the Dead

If WCBS-FM can return from the dead, why not Wolfman Jack? About 7 p.m. this evening, we were stunned to hear the Wolfman returning to the airwaves sounding well for his condition on the also-recently-resurrected New York oldies giant. This prompted several rounds of "isn't he dead" and "how old must he be"... But a quick check to Wikipedia confirmed the Wolfman's demise on July 1, 1995. So what is going on -- is it a rebroadcast of a classic program -- are they using classic Wolfman clips as intros and outros on a mock-Wolfman program -- or have they hired a replacement Wolfman???? At first an online search yeilded little chatter on the subject, execpt a few back and forths on Radio Info Boards discussing a new Sunday evening New York Radio Greats program on WCBS-FM, playing classic radio broadcasts from their rich archives.
Sadly the Weekly World News folded print publication just a few days too early for what could have been one of their greatest scoops, Wolfman Returns From the Dead in New York City.
(wolfman photo: Freightenstein.com)

Tags: google, wcbs fm, weekly world news, wikipedia, wolfman, wolfman jack